FortyFour Home
by WideEyedDreamer01
Summary: Have you ever played forty-four home? Not by these rules. A dark twist on an innocent child's game. Light THG thread, give it a try! RnR


**This story was inspired by the idea of THG, but contains no characters from any of the original novels. Enjoy!**

_Have you ever played forty-four home?_

I'm told that it used to be a game for children. An innocent game that carefree young kids with big white smiles and sun-streaked hair could play all summer long in their backyards. Have you ever played it? You may have heard it called "Base". But where I belong, those three words are as good as a death sentence. Forty-four Home is a sick, twisted game put on by the government-if you can call it that-of my country and televised for the entertainment of the rich imbecilic landowners. I will explain it.

It follows loosely the ideas of the very game itself. A group of players, willing or-in our case, unwilling- are placed in an area, with a landmark as "Base." Two or three players become "It", which means they have to guard the base. An amount of time is given in which all players must return safely to base, or you are out. If you are caught trying to return, and are unsuccessful, you are also out. If the "It" players choose to actively seek you out, and catch you, same deal. Out.

Sounds simple, right? After all, it's literally child's play, you're probably thinking. Yes, there's a few catches. The area to play within is thirty square miles of vicious, treacherous terrain. "Base" is usually a huge tree or rock in a hard-to-reach corner of the arena. Food and clean water are scarce. The given amount of time is forty-four days, hence the name, and if a player should choose to simply wait out this amount of time, they'll most likely die from hunger and thirst, or poisoning. If that doesn't finish you off, there's the slight problem of the "It" players. See, they _aren't actually all human. _They are comprised of genetically modified wolves and gladiator-style warriors trained specially by the government, pitted against the kidnapees sent from each of the Zones. I hardly need tell you that when a Guard or a Wolf catches a competitor, being "Out" constitutes a little bit more than sitting on a bench waiting for the next round. "Out" means death, simple as that.

Why, you ask? Why would any government do such a thing? The answer is obvious. To keep the people contained. To keep them frightened. The participants are chosen from each of the Four Zones, as I mentioned; North, South, East, and West, that surround Central, the capital of the country. Each year, there are forty players and the distribution is based on the Zone's output of resources for the year. So if North only met 85% of their quota for iron ore that year, more participants from that Zone are selected. Pretty drastic way of cutting down on pulling sick days, huh?

The prize for winning, for making it back to the Base is as high as the price paid for losing. It is a life of plenty, without suffering or want, a life dedicated to being a Victor, to pandering to Central. All my life, I've thought that I'd much prefer to die.

But there are other benefits. For every victor from your Zone next year, one less participant is required to play. Along with that, the entire Zone is given more rations- something that can mean the difference between life and death in the freezing winter that we live under for much more than one season. First, second and third placed victors are given respectively high/low quantities of rations for their Zone. Sounds good, right? The only problem is actually winning. In all my (measly) lifetime, I have never seen a Game with more than three Victors, and even in that one, they were all from the same Zone. It's not altogether unusual to see players killing each other for a higher placings, but in the end, the only person who ever wins is, of course, Central. Murdering fellow contestants isn't quite the aim of the game, but hey, anything for a bit of light entertainment, right?

Using this game, Central has effectively established four hostile Zones refuse to work together- a divide and conquer technique that works to perfection. In doing so the country is left weak, destabilized, with little chance of ever being able to rise up and unite against the Government. Exactly how they designed it.

So, tell me. Have you ever played the game Forty-Four home? I hazard a guess that you have never played by these rules. But I have. I played, and I survived. Come along for the ride…if you dare.

**Let me know if you liked, it, or are interested to see this continue!**


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